NIU police chief on paid leave

Grady banned indefinitely from department

November 11, 2012|By Jodi S. Cohen, Chicago Tribune reporter

NIU police chief Donald Grady (Bill Hogan, Chicago Tribune)

Northern Illinois University's police chief was put on paid leave Saturday and banned indefinitely from the department because of misconduct allegations. It's the latest disruption for a school that has faced a series of troubling events in recent months.

Donald Grady has led the police force since 2001, most notably during the 2008 campus shootings that left five students dead. He will be on leave pending final disciplinary action, officials said.

Grady's most recent troubles began about 10 days ago when a DeKalb County judge accused his department of misconduct in its investigation of an alleged sexual assault by one of its officers. The judge ruled that the department purposely withheld key evidence that could have cleared the officer, actions the judge called "egregious."

"The findings of the court called into question the integrity of the criminal investigatory process, and we cannot under any circumstances tolerate such clear breaches of contracts, authority and responsibility," NIU President John Peters said in a statement Saturday. "Although it pains me greatly that the university had to take these actions today, we must always strive to do the right thing."

On Friday, NIU officials named a director of public safety, F. William Nicklas, and Grady was to report to him. Nicklas met with Grady on Saturday to tell him he would be placed on paid leave. Also Saturday, another NIU officer who investigated the sexual assault case, Lt. Kartik Ramakrishnan, was told the university intends to fire him, NIU officials said.

Until a new acting police chief is named, the department will be led by Deputy Chief Darren Mitchell.

Grady will continue to draw his salary of about $206,000 a year while on leave. He could not be reached Saturday, and declined to say much about his job status Friday.

"Those questions are better posed to university administration," he said.

In a statement this week, NIU police sergeants stood by Grady, saying he has been cleared of "baseless allegations" in the past.

"We can attest to the incontrovertible integrity and commitment of Chief Grady," they wrote.

This is Grady's third leave since he became police chief. One was personal and one was during an investigation of allegations against him, NIU spokesman Paul Palian said.

The latest fallout with Grady stems from a police investigation into an alleged 2011 sexual assault of an NIU student by NIU police Officer Andrew Rifkin.

Rifkin was fired in October 2011 and charged with felony sexual assault a month later. In court last week, defense attorneys argued that the case should be dismissed because NIU police had not shared with prosecutors statements from witnesses saying the woman had told them the sex was consensual.

Defense attorney Bruce Brandwein said Grady and another NIU officer interviewed two female students who reported that Rifkin and the student had engaged in consensual sex. Rather than add those interviews to the police file, the officers placed the reports in Rifkin's private personnel file, Brandwein said.